We all love estate jewelry because there are so many amazingly unique pieces that you can buy. Have you ever bought a piece of jewelry that was owned by someone famous? How about a piece that was owned by royalty? Well, that’s exactly what a bidder did when they bid $6.7 million for a blue diamond once owned by the Queen of Spain Elisabeth Farnese.

The diamond, which is 6.16 carats, was owned by the Queen more than 300 years ago. The “Farnese Blue,” was originally given to the Queen as a wedding gift in 1715 by the governor of the Philippine Islands. It is a pear-shaped, fancy dark grey-blue diamond that made its way around Europe for generations and generations as members of the Queen’s family married off.

Sotheby’s Geneva auction house was lucky enough to get their hands on the diamond to be auctioned off in Geneva. The bidding began at $3.6 million and bidders fought hard for it, bidding in $100,000 increments until they reached the $6.7 million mark.

Although the Farnese Blue was priced extremely high, the auction house has seen higher. They once auctioned off two diamonds, each weighing more than 50 carats. The round, brilliant-cut diamond weighed 51.71 carats and sold for $9.2 million, and the oval diamond weighed 50.39 carats and sold for $8.1 million.

You never know what kind of jewelry you’ll find and the story behind it while shopping for estate jewelry, which makes it so much fun. You can find great pieces at our store and right here on our website. Stop in to see us today for all your jewelry needs!